"Nor I--till I try," said the lady smiling at her. "But if the mere suggestion is so powerful, what may not the reality do? I'll say one thing for Mr. Linden--he makes all those boys come into church and get seated before the service begins--which nobody else ever did yet; if they ever tried. I was curious to see how it would be last Sunday when he wasn't there--but they were more punctual than ever. It's quite a comfort--if there's anything I do hate to see, it's a troop of men and boys outside the door when they ought to be in. What are you afraid he'll say to Sam, Faith?" Faith's eyes were looking down. The question brought them up, and then her smile was as frank as her blushes had been. "I am not afraid he'll say anything, Mrs. Somers." "I don't know why he should, my dear," said Mr. Somers. "We all like to use our eyes--you can't very well blame a boy." "O Mr. Somers!" said his wife--with that air which a woman puts on when she says she believes, what she wouldn't for the world say _if_ she believed,--"of course you think that! Don't I know how you broke your heart after a green veil when you were in college? I don't think it's been right whole since. Now I have some feeling for Sam--or his future wife." "Well Mrs. Derrick, what shall I tell Julius?" said Miss Harrison as she rose to go. "Tell him?" said Mrs. Derrick enquiringly. "He wouldn't care to hear anything about me, if you did tell him, Miss Sophy." "Well!--he'll have to come and talk to you himself," said Miss Harrison. "Faith, stand up for the right." Faith went to the door with her and returned ushering in a new-comer, even the wife of Farmer Davids. "Husband wanted me to come and see how Mr. Linden was," she said in meek explanation of her appearance. "He would have come hisself, but he was forced to be in the field, and he said he wisht I'd come myself. How is he, ma'am?" "I hope he's better,"--said Mrs. Derrick, giving her new visiter a kind reception and a seat. "He don't get strong very fast. How are you all at home, Mrs. Davids?" "We're considerable comfortable, ma'am," said Mrs. Davids taking the chair in an unobtrusive spirit. "I am happy to have the occasion to make your acquaintance better. Husband would have come hisself, only he couldn't. Mr. Linden don't get strong?" "Not very fast," said Mrs. Derrick. "I don't know just when the doctor 'll let him go to school again. I suppose you're anxious about Phil, Mrs. Davids. But all the boys have to be out, now."